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Peggy sat at the L&L automat. It would close in a few minutes, after all it was Christmas Eve.
“English, you really don’t want to go to that party with me, you know, the one I talked to you about the other day,” Angie said, swiping some crumbs off a table.
“No, I’m good. Thank you for asking,” Peggy smiled. Sure, she felt lonely, but she didn’t really want to spend Christmas Eve at a party where she only knew one person. And besides, she never really liked crowded parties. She knew one person who would love it: Howard. But he was off with some girl to somewhere warm.
“I should probably go,” Peggy stood up, leaving a few dollar bills on the table, including a tip. She looked around, there were a few people left scattered among the tables. People like her, who didn’t have anyone to get home to at Christmas. Angie watched her leave, sad eyes following her friend until she was outside. The actress wished her friend could find someone who loved her, who would make her feel warm inside when he smiles, who would make her feel safe and protect her. Not that Peggy needed protecting, Angie had seen her in action. She was a force to be reckoned with. But behind the fire in Peggy’s eyes, there was a dark space, filled with loneliness.
Peggy wrapped her coat tighter around her frame. She sighed, leaving a trail of damp floating through the air. Snowflakes were falling down and covering the ground in a white blanket. In the distance she could hear laughter, voices booming over the silence snow brought, music… Her hand reached out and she caught a snowflake. Bringing it closer to her face, she studied the elegant edges, before it completely melted away. She took another breath, the cold stinging in her nose and hurried home.
Tired of all the steps to her apartment, Peggy opened her door. She threw her keys on a small sideboard and shrugged her coat off. The brunette kicked her shoes off and put on some slippers. Turning the lights on, she looked at her living room. No christmas tree, because she had no one to share christmas with. She had already eaten at the Automat, so she walked to her bathroom, cleaning her face and taking a long bath. Then she put her hair up in curlers, changed in her pyjamas and slipped on her dressing gown. Sighing, she dumped herself in her couch and took the book that laid on the side table. After reading a few pages, her eyes began to droop and Peggy retired to bed.
The following morning Peggy immediately went from her bed to her bathroom. The agent only had time to remove the curlers from her hair and comb it out, before she heard a sound of porcelain falling and breaking. She walked quietly to her closet in her bedroom and found her gun in a small suitcase. Carefully stepping towards her living room, she was perplexed by the sight. There was a decorated Christmas tree next to her couch, christmas songs playing in the background. Howard was standing in front of the tree. Peggy lowered her gun and strode over to Howard, who welcomed her with open arms. She hugged him, glad to see someone she cared about on Christmas Day, but then slapped his upper arm.
“Never scare me again like that. I could’ve shot a bullet through your head.”
“But luckily you didn’t,” he said. It was then that she noticed that his hair was longer than normal. A stubble had formed on his jaw and it didn’t really look like he had been on a vacation somewhere warm.
“Shouldn’t you be with some girl, somewhere at the French coast?”
He looked a bit hurt, but in typical Stark style, he didn’t let it bother him.
“Now, why would you think that?”
At Peggy’s cocked up brow and crossed arms, he continued:”Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. One thing I knew for sure is that I couldn’t let my Pegs be alone on Christmas.”
The genius looked over Peggy’s shoulder and instinctively she turned around, her heart speeding up. Steve was standing there. Steve. Her Steve. She practically jumped toward him and launched herself in his arms. They were warm. They were home. Afraid that he wasn’t really there, she didn’t dare to let go. It was only when he spoke up, that she looked up at him.
“Is that offer to dance still open?”
She nodded frantically, tears spilling from her eyes. She didn’t care: He was safe, he was home. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Realising that Howard was still there, she turned around, Steve’s strong arms still holding her.
“Thank you, Howard.”
“Like I said, Pegs. I would bring him home,” Shifting uncomfortably, he finally said, “Now, I have some business to attend to. If you’ll excuse me.” He nodded and walked through the door.
Peggy shifted further in Steve’s arms, but he placed a hand on her jaw, stroking it with his thumb until his hand was under her chin and he tilted it upward. Peggy’s brown eyes eyed his lips before returning to his eyes and in an instant she filled the gap between them and place her lips on his. Steve’s mouth was warm. It didn’t feel like he was dead. A sudden realisation hit her and she pulled away.
“How did you…?” survive. But she didn’t know how to put it.
Steve took her hand and led her to the couch. He signaled her to sit and placed himself next to her, her hands still in his. He proceeded to explain the whole story, how he actually didn’t die, but hibernated because of the serum. Howard had found him and had ‘thawed’ him. At the end of his story, she kissed him again, this time sloppy, because she couldn’t stop smiling. At that moment, the radio played softly the famous voice of Crosby, singing he would return home for Christmas.